On day one, four Chicago mayoral candidates turn in thousands of signatures to get on the ballot

Mayoral contenders and dozens of aldermanic candidates, their election lawyers and supporters stood in line Nov. 19, 2018, to file nominating petitions to get on the Feb. 26 city ballot. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Mayoral contenders and dozens of aldermanic candidates, their election lawyers and supporters stood in line Nov. 19, 2018, to file nominating petitions to get on the Feb. 26 city ballot. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

It’s a tradition of Chicago political pageantry that happens every four years: a long line of aldermen, candidates who hope to replace them, lawyers and campaign staffers snakes through hallways below the Loop in the George W. Dunne Cook County Office Building.

Standing in line by 9 a.m. to submit reams of petition signatures gives them a shot at appearing at the top of the ballot, but many also use the moment to try to project campaign prowess. Historically, a few mayoral candidates might be sprinkled in the line, but for many years there wasn’t much of a competitive race for the 5th floor of City Hall — particularly when Richard J. Daley and his son Richard M. Daley reigned.

This year, though, there was far more intrigue. Which of the 15 candidates jockeying to succeed Mayor Rahm Emanuel would show up on day one?

The answer: four.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, businessman Willie Wilson, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and Southwest Side attorney Jerry Joyce all were in line early Monday, wheeling in the thousands of pages of signatures on dollies to drop off with election officials in a basement conference room.

The large field of mayoral hopefuls has until next Monday, Nov. 26, to turn in their petition signatures. The same goes for candidates for alderman, city clerk and city treasurer. Mayoral candidates must submit at least 12,500 signatures from registered Chicago voters, although they typically gather many more to withstand potential challenges.

Preckwinkle and Wilson both said they had collected 60,000 signatures. Vallas said he had 50,000 and Joyce said his volunteers wrangled 30,000.

“It really sends a signal you’re ready,” Vallas said of turning in signatures on the first day. “It’s a sign of the grassroots support that we have that we think is going to put us over the finish line.”

Last year, Emanuel was the lone candidate to submit his signatures the first day — 43,000 of them. In his first run in 2011, Emanuel submitted 90,905, which harked back to the times when former Mayor Richard M. Daley's campaign would arrive first in line with more than 100,000.

The benefit to filing right at 9 a.m. on the first day is becoming eligible to participate in a lottery for the top spot on the ballot. In a race that could see as many as 16 candidates, Vallas said that top spot could be worth a percentage point or two in the final vote tally.

“We’re going to try to obviously look to gain any advantage, by entering the lottery and we’d like the name at the top of the ticket,” Vallas said. “The issues are going to drive this race. And with all these candidates, and at the end of the day, I’m confident people are going to be looking for a candidate who can run this city.”

The submission of nominating petitions kicks off a monthlong period of legal wrangling, in which candidates often challenge one another’s petitions to weed out some of the competition. The rule of thumb in the mayoral race is for a campaign to collect three times the minimum 12,500 number because challengers can use charges of forgery, fraud and more minor technicalities to invalidate signatures and knock opponents out of the race.

Chicago mayoral hopefuls started filing petition signatures at the Chicago Board of Elections on Nov. 19, 2018, and continued until the last day of filing on Nov. 26. Candidates in line when the process began are eligible to participate in a lottery for the top spot on the ballot.

(Chicago Tribune)

It’s not unusual for campaigns to end up with signatures from people who don’t reside in the city, aren’t registered to vote or are not registered at their current address — all common issues that can get a signature disqualified. Other technical issues can get signatures thrown out, too.

That’s why Preckwinkle stood next to a dolly with hundreds of pages Monday morning while supporters held up letters spelling out “Team Toni.”

“I believe with 60,000 signatures, we should make it on the ballot,” Preckwinkle said with a laugh. “I’m very grateful to all of the volunteers who worked so hard to get us on the ballot.

Wilson also said he had collected 60,000, but he was less coy about the likelihood of challenging petitions.

“I think some of the other candidates would be the ones that have trouble,” said Wilson, who finished third in the 2015 mayor’s race. “I’m going to protect my own interests, that’s for sure. We’re definitely going to look at everybody. Some of these people ain’t got no business in the race, you know? Financially, it doesn’t make sense.”

Joyce turned in the fewest number, but still more than double the requirement. The son of a longtime Daley-era City Hall power broker, Joyce said he was “absolutely confident” he’d get on the ballot, pointing to the fact that all of his were collected by volunteers. Some campaigns pay people to collect signatures around the city, a move that political strategists say leads to a higher percentage of invalid signatures since there is a financial incentive to fake results.

Former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley issued a statement saying he intended to turn in more than 45,000 signatures. Lightfoot also released a statement saying she had collected more than 30,000 so far. Daley City Hall veteran and 2011 mayoral candidate Gery Chico predicted he would turn in more than double the required 12,500. State Comptroller Susana Mendoza also didn’t turn in petitions Monday, but downplayed the importance of doing so the first day.

“We got a little bit of a later start than the other candidates, but I don’t think I’ve ever filed on the first day of filing for any race that I’ve been in other than when I ran for state rep. many, many years ago,” Mendoza said Sunday on 720 WGN AM.

Waiting until next week’s deadline gives candidates more time to collect signatures, and also gives opposing campaigns one less week to sift through their signatures and file a petition challenge by a Dec. 3 deadline. The final ballot is set to be certified by Dec. 20.

The 2019 mayor’s race has drawn an unusually large group of candidates, one that grew after Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s surprise announcement in September that he would abandon his bid for a third term. If no mayoral hopeful gets more than 50 percent of the vote in the February race, the top two vote-getters will qualify for a head-to-head April 2 runoff.

Former Ald. Bob Fioretti showed Monday morning to shake hands with aldermanic candidates. Fioretti said he has collected 30,000 signatures to appear on the mayoral ballot, but hasn’t made a final decision on whether he would run. He finished a distant fourth in the 2015 mayor’s race, collecting 7 percent of the vote.

Also in line Monday were dozens of City Council candidates, among them powerful Ald. Edward Burke, facing a potentially stiff challenge representing the Southwest Side 14th Ward. Progressive Latinos led by U.S. Rep.-elect Jesus “Chuy” Garcia have targeted Burke, who has served on the council since 1969. So far, three young Hispanic candidates have filed campaign paperwork to run against the longtime powerful chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee.

Standing in line to submit his petitions for a record 14th time, Burke said he was ready to defend his seat.

“I don’t look forward to fights, but I certainly don’t back away from them,” he said.

Closer to the front of the line, 14th Ward challenger Jose Torrez said Burke has been lax in providing services in the majority-Hispanic ward, and it’s too late to make up for it.

“We’re going around the ward, talking to people and putting them in touch with 311 and other city departments to get tree trimming and other basics, things (Burke) should have been doing for the past four years,” said Torrez, who is a counselor at Richard J. Daley College. “Now he’s in a tough fight and he’s been trying to do it all in the last six months, and it’s causing other problems because he’s trying to do it too quickly.”

Tanya Patino and Jaime Guzman have also filed paperwork to create campaign committees to run against Burke but neither was not on hand Monday to file petitions. Patino was campaign treasurer for Aaron Ortiz, the Garcia-backed candidate who this spring in the Democratic primary election took out state Rep. Dan Burke, Ald. Burke’s brother. Guzman is a non-profit administrator who once worked for Garcia’s office at the Cook County Board.